Leading the change we need to see 

Driving a shift towards an evidence-based approach to reduce the number of children under 12 in residential care, OzChild partnered with the Victorian Government to implement the TFCO program for children aged 7-11.  

This initiative marked the beginning of our journey to not only shape an evidence-based service system for children and families but also to contribute to long-term cost savings for governments.  

“Shortly after launching TFCO, the OzChild Board made the bold decision to self-fund Functional Family Therapy – Child Welfare (FFT-CW). This move underscored our commitment to researching and piloting innovative, evidence-based service delivery models aimed at strengthening and preserving families,” Lisa explains. 

Aligned with Lisa’s collaborative approach, our team embraced secondments from Anglicare and VACCA to learn alongside us as we embarked on delivering our first evidence-based model aimed at reducing child protection notifications and mitigating the risk of harm for children and young people. 

“In many sectors, there’s a fear of sharing knowledge—what if others take what we’re doing and replicate it? But I’ve always thought, what’s the worst that could happen? In our case, it would mean better outcomes for children and families, right? And that’s exactly what happened. Our friends at Anglicare adopted FFT-CW, established their own team, and continue to deliver it successfully to this day,” Lisa shares.